The Temple of San Lorenzo Xochimanca is one of the oldest in the city and is located in the park of the same name just half a block away from Insurgentes Avenue and the Sunken Park. It’s always pleasant to visit this place as, in spite of being so close to one of the main avenues in the city, it’s a very quiet park and time seems to stop when you’re inside.  

This temple was founded in the 16^th Century and was the main church in the San Lorenzo neighborhood, one of the origins of the Del Valle district. This construction has a small nave built with volcanic rock, a reduced cupola and a bell tower. The first part of the building has a ceiling of wooden beams installed on May 8 1772. The interior is decorated with high-relief carvings on stone, of flowers that end in an indigenous type cross.

This temple’s façade is very simple and is composed by a semi-circular arch with a stone finish and rectilinear friezes. The bell tower is an excellent example of the vernacular architecture of Mixcoac as we can appreciate the decorations that the inhabitants of the area created with the most abundant material in the place: brick, which was used to create baroque figures on the tower of different textures and tones depending on the kind of clay with which they were made.

Another element that stands out is the cross located in the temple’s atrium, on which one can observe the indigenous contributions to Christian art, introducing certain elements that belonged to their religions before the conquest; contributions that can only be observed in the first religious constructions of the colonial time and whose importance lies in the fact that through them we can appreciate the clash between two different worlds and the fusion of two rich cultures that created a larger one, the Mexican culture.

This place is located in the Del Valle district.

Information courtesy of: http://www.coloniadelvalle.com.mx